Baidu may begin testing its Apollo Go robotaxi service in Europe this 12 months

Baidu’s Apollo Go robotaxi service is making its debut in Europe later this 12 months, in accordance with The Wall Street Journal. The Chinese language firm is reportedly negotiating with Switzerland’s PostAuto, a Swiss Submit subsidiary that gives rural bus providers all through the nation, to start out testing Apollo Go in Switzerland. To have the ability to take a look at its know-how in Switzerland earlier than the 12 months ends, Baidu is establishing a neighborhood entity within the coming months.

Again in March, the corporate introduced that it was deploying 100 totally autonomous automobiles in Dubai, with plans to develop its fleet to 1,000 automobiles within the metropolis by 2028. It is also increasing its trials in Hong Kong and reportedly has plans to check its automobiles in Turkey sooner or later. Baidu launched Apollo Go in all “first-tier” Chinese language cities, together with Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai, in 2022. As The Journal notes, Baidu, like its Chinese language opponents, is probably going seeking to develop in Europe as a substitute of the US, as a result of Chinese language firms could possibly be topic to extra scrutiny within the nation.

One of many firms Baidu can be competing with in Europe is Uber, which signed a deal with Chinese language self-driving startup Momenta earlier this month. Uber and Momenta are launching robotaxi providers within the continent someday in 2026. When Baidu does begin testing its automobiles its Switzerland, they will more than likely have drivers behind the wheel earlier than the corporate progresses to totally driverless trials.

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